WARRINGTON'S Chris Evans has been rewarded for his comeback to the airwaves with nominations for two prestigious Sony Radio Academy Awards.

His BBC Radio 2 Saturday afternoon show has landed him a nomination for Music Radio Personality of the Year.

Evans, who is set to move to a daily drivetime slot on the station next month, is also up for The Entertainment Award.

The former-TFI host's career fell apart following his sacking from Virgin Radio's breakfast show in 2001.

His return to a daily show in April sparked a protest from hundreds of listeners.

The 39-year-old is up against Jamie Theakston (London's Heart 106.2), Lauren Laverne (Xfm), Marc Riley (BBC6 Music) and Tim Lovejoy (Virgin Radio) for Music Radio Personality of the Year.

His rivals in the Entertainment Award category are Radio 1 breakfast show DJ Chris Moyles, Danny Baker (BBC London 94.9), Radio 2's Jonathan Ross, and the Ugly Phil Breakfast Show (Kerrang! 105.2 West Midlands).

Radio 1

UK Station of the Year nominees are Radio 1, Radio 2 and Xfm.

Kerrang! 105.2 and Xfm gain six nominations each, with Galaxy, Real Radio Yorkshire and BBC Radio Ulster each receiving four.

New faces in local and commercial radio have pipped established faces in some categories, such as the Breakfast Show Award.

Big names like Chris Moyles and Christian O'Connell on Virgin Radio lose out to MacDonald & Maguire (Magic 1152), Nick Ferrari (LBC 97.3), Toolan in the Morning (Key 103), Wes at Breakfast (Galaxy Manchester) and the only national station, Radio 4's Today Programme.

That Mitchell and Webb Sound, featuring Peep show stars David Mitchell and Robert Webb on Radio 4, is one of five nominees in The Comedy Award category.

Change

Tim Blackmore, chairman of the Sony Radio Academy Awards Committee, said: "The accelerating rate of change within our industry is reflected in the way these awards have kept pace across almost a quarter of a century.

"The enthusiastic support for the Sonys from all sectors of UK radio is evidenced by an outstanding year in which the overall number of entries has increased, alongside a significant increase in support from our local and regional broadcasters."

The 2006 nominations were selected from more than 1,400 entries across UK radio.

The winners will be announced on May 8 at a ceremony in Grosvenor House, Park Lane.

The awards were announced at a launch party tonight at The Vinyl Factory in central London.